[NU Sports] my two cents

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> 2. I think the problem is our defense. I had thought many times over the
>past month that we had made real strides in our defense -- that it had
>matured. Then came the debacle in Hawaii, which I stayed up late to watch,
>all the way to the last execrable play.

I'm not excusing the D for Hawaii ... just saying that they gave the O
three or four chances to put the game away and the O didn't. But Hawaii was
a different type of game -- a WAC-style shootout we were trapped in. For
most of the season, the D had shown good strides, especially against the
run (vs. the pass we were bad, I agree).

> The reason we were so good in 95 and 96 was fundamentally, as is always
>the case with championship teams, defense. That is where I believe we need
>to get

1995 - no doubt. 1996 - hmm, that was more like this year ... we had a
bend-don't-break D in '96 that played to the level of opponents. The
Purdue, Illinois, etc. games that year were much like this year's
Indiana/Illinois games. We allowed a lot of yards and points in 1996 ... it
caught up with us against Peyton in Orlando. But when the O put their
perfect game together (that magnificent rout in Iowa City:) ), the D came
to play that day as well for a case of good timing and a Hayden whuppin!

> Our offensive line loses some guys and Noah Herron is gone, and he is a
>warrior -- I've enjoyed watching him as much or more as DA1 and DA2. But
>Basanez will be a senior and ought to be terrific, and the receiving corps
>ought to be first-rate as well. So I have some confidence for the 2005
>season -- although I

I'll really miss Noah as well. I think he's the most complete back we've
had at NU. It's a shame he wasn't allowed to win the game at Hawaii.

As for next year on O, with Baz and most of the receivers back ... along
with a speedy back in TJ (but did he learn to catch from Noah?) and a
developing Bates-type in Kim Thompson to go with our short bubble screen
guys and Fields' speed ... we may have a more wide-open Hawaii-style
offense next year.

> 4. The issue with 6-6 is that our expectations have changed, and rightly
>so. In years gone by, 6-6 and 5-3 conference, would be cause for
>rejoicing. Now we expect better. I think we have a better record if we fix
>our defensive woes.

I'm not sure they've earned the right to jump that far yet ... this is only
our second back-to-back 6-win seasons in 30+ years. Going into 2004, I
picked 6-6 and that was considered generous ... most national publications
thought we might surprise a few teams but with the tougher schedule than
2003, finish 4-8 or 5-7. Certainly no one saw us as 4th in the Big Ten.

Hopefully after Hawaii our kids feel disappointed knowing what should have
been and hopefully they WANT more than 6 wins ... we should want more as
well. But we also need to keep expectations from getting out of hand. Two
straight 6 win seasons is a start to building a program. But I don't think
we've jumped to the level where 6-6 is a bad season for NU football yet.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT


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